Based on what I've seen of the FAA's airport approach area maps, building heights SHOULD be able to gradually increase as you get farther from the airport. Under this scenario, areas such as Ballpark Village/Barrio Logan should be able to go past 500', however the city restricted the entire downtown area to a 500' max a long time ago (probably under FAA pressure or cooperation).

What you're describing is very common in other cities. I seemed to recall though that the problem for San Diego was North Island's approach(es) also extend over Downtown, making none of it viable for >500' development.

Does anyone know what's going on with 777 Front Street? Those offices have been closed for awhile (although there is a Bosa sales office on the corner).

Quote:

The pro­posed de­vel­op­ment con­sists of a 42 story con­crete res­id­en­tial tower with 260 units sur­roun­ded by a forty foot po­di­um above four levels of un­der­ground park­ing. Varied balcony edges create an undulating facade around the inner glass volume. The inner volume is revealed at random points up the tower facade. A luxurious porte cochere is carved out of Front Street for the residential entry and Lobby connection. The remainder of the ground floor is devoted to 16,000 gsf of retail frontage and it's associated loading and parking access.

This project was in City Beat recently, I guess San Diego is considered a front runner as the host city for this statue. It is conceived as a national bookend to the Statue of Liberty--a west coast statue symbolizing the responsibility that comes with liberty. The concept seems to be decades in the making, but seems very timely considering the current administration in the white house seems hellbent on closing borders and this Statue of Responsibility aims to symbolize empathy, assistance, etc. San Diego would also be a great location given its geographical proximity to the busiest border crossing in the world. From the rendering it looks like Coronado Island would be its home if it were to be constructed in San Diego, which I think is appropriate. There's a smaller scale replica of the statue at some university in Utah.

This project was in City Beat recently, I guess San Diego is considered a front runner as the host city for this statue. It is conceived as a national bookend to the Statue of Liberty--a west coast statue symbolizing the responsibility that comes with liberty. The concept seems to be decades in the making, but seems very timely considering the current administration in the white house seems hellbent on closing borders and this Statue of Responsibility aims to symbolize empathy, assistance, etc. San Diego would also be a great location given its geographical proximity to the busiest border crossing in the world. From the rendering it looks like Coronado Island would be its home if it were to be constructed in San Diego, which I think is appropriate. There's a smaller scale replica of the statue at some university in Utah.

Yes, let's create a PC statue about responsibly helping immigrants in a city with one of the worst homeless populations in the country. Kind of ironic.

Also, not sure why you're telling someone to GTFO for expressing their viewpoint on a proposed project. We get it, you're very conservative (I've seen past comments of yours negative towards immigrants). We're all entitled to our own political viewpoints so more power to you. But SD is a diverse city and as Arquitecto points out we are at a unique location on the border with Mexico and on the Pacific Rim. If done right it could be a good thing.

(I've seen past comments of yours negative towards immigrants)
bs!
I keep my post about SD not TJ. start a TJ thread.no problem.
But this is an abomination along the lines of that wing design for the navy pier.

Those wings were horrid. I'd say this Responsibility Statue is definitely an improvement.

And FYI, I was born and raised in Orange County, and have lived in San Diego for nearly a decade. I'm sorry that your thinking is limited to assume someone can't be bilingual AND a US citizen, Bertrice.

This project was in City Beat recently, I guess San Diego is considered a front runner as the host city for this statue. It is conceived as a national bookend to the Statue of Liberty--a west coast statue symbolizing the responsibility that comes with liberty. The concept seems to be decades in the making, but seems very timely considering the current administration in the white house seems hellbent on closing borders and this Statue of Responsibility aims to symbolize empathy, assistance, etc. San Diego would also be a great location given its geographical proximity to the busiest border crossing in the world. From the rendering it looks like Coronado Island would be its home if it were to be constructed in San Diego, which I think is appropriate. There's a smaller scale replica of the statue at some university in Utah.

I swear, each one of these observation towery structures is worse than the last. This one, with the windows at the top, looks more like an air traffic control tower. "It's more than a monument, it's a heaping pile of crap."

As statues go I find it pretty unattractive but I'm also pretty sure it won't get enough support to build it. That's not to say a statue of size might not one day be in the city but it's going to have to be nice enough to get some support.

There were a few people that didn't care for the unconditional surrender statue when they first mentioned making it a permanent fixture vs its original temporary status but honestly it had good support, was popular with visitors and although a New York historic event from Life magazine it did fit San Diego's navy history along with an ideal location near the Midway museum.

A large statue as proposed will always have its detractors but it's going to be more important to have the right support and location.

^ I believe that the developers currently have to get FAA and Airport Authority approval to put up cranes (at least ones over 500').

The point you raise seems very valid to me. Based on what I've seen of the FAA's airport approach area maps, building heights SHOULD be able to gradually increase as you get farther from the airport. Under this scenario, areas such as Ballpark Village/Barrio Logan should be able to go past 500', however the city restricted the entire downtown area to a 500' max a long time ago (probably under FAA pressure or cooperation).

I believe that it would be possible (though perhaps not politically wise) to increase the city's height limit in certain areas of downtown WITHOUT violating the FAA's rules. That said, the FAA and the city would probably both prefer not to go down this path. One has to wonder though if the height limit issue will finally be discussed as downtown builds out the last of the "low-hanging-fruit" land parcels.

I'm not sure that even if we didn't have the current 500 foot height limit in place that we would instantly start seeing towers pop up over 500 feet.

If building demand was such why aren't more towers regularly hitting that 500 foot limit now. I'm not saying you wouldn't see a 500+ foot tower but it doesn't seem the city is suffering from a great demand to hit or break that 500 foot mark.

I think it's more important that the city of San Diego continue its downtown growth in a organic manner. It's not so much about size as it is the vibe the city creates. It has a lot of good parts in it already but still needs certain pieces to make it great which have nothing to do with its height (although I'm in the camp it does hurt the city to some degree but I don't agree it's some death blow).

(I've seen past comments of yours negative towards immigrants)
bs!
I keep my post about SD not TJ. start a TJ thread.no problem.
But this is an abomination along the lines of that wing design for the navy pier.

Who brought up TJ? You saw "immigrants" and a forumer with a Spanish username and went all in. Can't you just stick to critiquing the statue (a horrible, horrible statue) rather than illuminating us, once again, with your less than subtle prejudice?

I'm not sure that even if we didn't have the current 500 foot height limit in place that we would instantly start seeing towers pop up over 500 feet.

If building demand was such why aren't more towers regularly hitting that 500 foot limit now. I'm not saying you wouldn't see a 500+ foot tower but it doesn't seem the city is suffering from a great demand to hit or break that 500 foot mark.

I think it's more important that the city of San Diego continue its downtown growth in a organic manner. It's not so much about size as it is the vibe the city creates. It has a lot of good parts in it already but still needs certain pieces to make it great which have nothing to do with its height (although I'm in the camp it does hurt the city to some degree but I don't agree it's some death blow).

I disagree. Just look at all the sets of twin towers in this city. It's possible some of these would have been single mega towers. Also, many buildings are building up to the height limit all the time...Bosa, Pinnacle, 7th/Market, Manchester, ,OAP, and others. You must also understand that the height limit if 500' from sea level. This means that the maximum building height from grade is often 480' or slightly less. This is why you see a lot of towers like Bosa building to heights of 479'. The effective height limit is even lower in places of higher elevation such as the financial district.

An increased height limit would definitely free up developers to build higher and if instituted in the past we'd have a much taller skyline.

I disagree. Just look at all the sets of twin towers in this city. It's possible some of these would have been single mega towers. Also, many buildings are building up to the height limit all the time...Bosa, Pinnacle, 7th/Market, Manchester, ,OAP, and others. You must also understand that the height limit if 500' from sea level. This means that the maximum building height from grade is often 480' or slightly less. This is why you see a lot of towers like Bosa building to heights of 479'. The effective height limit is even lower in places of higher elevation such as the financial district.

An increased height limit would definitely free up developers to build higher and if instituted in the past we'd have a much taller skyline.

Yes I do understand how the height limit works from sea level. I also agree with you that a twin tower project might have gone with a single higher tower but that doesn't mean the leftover parcel would also have been used as another high tower. How many twin tower projects are in the city currently? So combine some of them as single higher towers (not all of them because it's unlikely all would have gone that route) and that's how many higher towers we would have today. You can't really add more because the towers are being built to market demand which if it was higher Bosa would have more than one project going on at a time based on the amount of land they currently own. What's the tallest condo towers Bosa builds? There's probably your answer. I'm not disagreeing with you that a few taller buildings wouldn't be better I'm just doubting the reality of how many we might actually have today.

There are a lot of projects being built right now and have been built that could have gone not just a little higher but a lot higher. I see the demand to build higher even if it was available limited. I could see someone breaking that 500 foot limit but I don't see the city looking like other cities with higher towers.

One of the problems being is the city has been unsuccessful so far at getting the type of business that would likely build such a high tower. No Qualcomm, no Sony, no Petco, media outlet, etc... in downtown right now to anchor such a tower. This talk of getting one of San Diegos big companies downtown has proven so far fruitless.

So yeah, I could certainly see Bosa using the land more to their benefit with single taller towers for condos which would help the cities appearance but it still wouldn't resolve a current problem with our downtowns identity. That being the lack of big players in business providing it with character. The downtown doesn't even have small business fronts like a Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc... in it. The retail experience in downtown is more glaring to me than a 600 footer.

Who brought up TJ? You saw "immigrants" and a forumer with a Spanish username and went all in. Can't you just stick to critiquing the statue (a horrible, horrible statue) rather than illuminating us, once again, with your less than subtle prejudice?

You don't know me. don't comment on me.
I stand by my posts.
I didn't say anything about " immigrants"
your oversensitive.
shut up and read.
If you got a problem with me then PM me.